The art of preparing caramel candy includes the conventional cooking of sugar, milk, and fat to prepare the various kinds of caramel, including wrapped caramels, plastic cast caramels, cast grained caramels, semi-short chocolate caramels, caramel coating for nougat rolls, summer-type chocolate caramels, and the like as described, for example, by J. J. Alikonis, CANDY TECHNOLOGY, AVI Publishing Co., 1983, pages 147, et sec. Caramel candies of these types have not permitted the preparation of all of the various types of caramel-flavored confections as would be desired.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,122,016, Stokes describes the preparation of a caramel coating by heating a mixture of sugar and milk to caramelize the mixture, followed by mixing in another vessel to "grain" and dry the mixture. This "grained" caramel is then mixed with a small amount of fat until a dough-like mass is formed. This dough-like mass is ground through a refiner and the resulting product is then blended with additional fat to form the coating material.
However, the process described by Stokes has two serious problems which are the probable reasons why this technology has not been commercialized despite the need for a product of this type. First, the "graining" process requires mixers of extreme power to transform the viscous caramel into a dry granular material. Graining in this manner is feasible in the laboratory, but prohibitive on a commercial scale. Secondly, and more importantly, the final compositions prepared in this manner are unstable in their fluid state and quickly separate back into their initial components of fat, and caramel, even when continuously mixed. Immediately after initial mixing, the caramel begins to agglomerate into solid pieces which become permanently separated from the fat phase. Moreover, if the mixing is discontinued, the fat layer completely separates within 15 minutes, and the caramel forms one solid mass. This product cannot be solidified and remelted for later use, cannot be stored, and would be virtually impossible to run in conventional confectionery equipment. The fundamental problem is that the fat and caramel components are basically immiscible when using the Stokes formula and process.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,524,291, Hoffman describes the preparation of oil-based coatings which can be employed as toppings or casings for ice cream, confectionery and other foods. The process employs water-soluble colors in combination with a water-in-oil emulsifying agent, such as lecithin, to provide coatings with a wide variety of colors, each being uniform in appearance. Among the colors mentioned is a brownish tint, formed by a combination of red, yellow and blue U.S. certified colors, useful for coloring a butterscotch or caramel flavored coating. The flavor compositions for these coatings are not identified. Separation of fat from caramel is not mentioned because real caramel is not employed. This patent describes the general process used in producing many flavored vegetable oil coatings.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,771, Kolar describes the preparation of a caramel-type confectionery product from a reconstitutable condensed milk product. A calcium sequestering agent is employed to avoid the typical loss in texture normally encountered when this type of milk is employed. The texture of the caramels produced is of the character produced by conventional processing and, therefore, not suitable for processing in the ways which we describe.
A number of other variations on the typical caramel texture have been developed for special applications, however, development of specialty products necessarily limits their general usefulness. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,645, Lee describes the preparation of a candy coating for snack food. The product is similar to caramel corn. No other significant uses, such as depositing, enrobing, or molding are disclosed.